Drew Peterson prosecutors seek to limit email use by lawyers in case

Will County prosecutors will be back in court Friday, after filing an emergency motion to curtail all parties in the Drew Peterson case from discussing legal and logistical matters via e-mail.

The motion to “limit electronic communication” was filed under seal Wednesday. Sources told the Tribune that the state’s attorneys office was worried that too many conversations about the case were being handled via email and after standard work hours.

Like many of his counterparts in the federal court system, Will County Judge Edward Burmila likes to use e-mail to communicate with attorneys and receive filings. Peterson’s defense team also mostly communicates with each other electronically because most of them work in different offices.

A spokesman for Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow would not comment on the motion because it remains under seal, but he confirmed it was filed by prosecutors.

Burmila will discuss the matter with both sides at a hearing set for 4 p.m. Friday, a rare time for a judge to require attorneys to make an appearance ahead of an upcoming holiday weekend.

Peterson, 58, is charged with killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio, who was found dead in her dry Bolingbrook bathtub in 2004. Her death was ruled an accidental drowning, but prosecutors exhumed Savio's body and reopened the case after Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, vanished in 2007.

Peterson remains the sole suspect in Stacy's disappearance but has not been charged. He has denied any wrongdoing in either case.